No. 13 Wildcats Return to Boone Complex for Two Match Home Stand

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Following a victory at Arkansas, the 13^th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats (11-4, 2-1 SEC) will return to the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex for their next two Southeastern Conference matches. UK will start the weekend against No. 39 Auburn (13-3, 2-1 SEC) on Friday at 5 p.m. ET before moving onto No. 22 Texas A&M (14-7, 3-0 SEC) on Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
Kentucky’s Last Time Out
 
The Wildcats played in their first SEC road match this past Sunday against Arkansas at the Billingsley Tennis Center, pulling out a gritty 4-3 victory over the Razorbacks. 
 
Arkansas began the match by winning doubles competition, with Liam Draxl and JJ Mercer falling 6-3 on court two. Kentucky then surrendered the doubles point when Millen Hurrion and Joshua Lapadat lost to Alex Reco and Nico Rousett by a 7-5 score.
 
Captain Hurrion, No. 60 Francois Musitelli, No. 37 Lapadat and Draxl picked up wins in singles competition to clinch the match in favor of the blue and white. The Newmarket, Ontario, native Draxl earned his first ranked victory of the season in the match-clinching win over No. 95 Reco in a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 tilt.
 
#UKRising in the Rankings
 
While no singles or doubles rankings were released on Wednesday, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association did update its team rankings. The Wildcats dropped one spot, from No. 12 to 13, after getting past the Razorbacks in its lone match of the week.
 
As a result, No. 10 Gabriel Diallo is still the highest ranked Kentucky athlete. The Montreal native holds a team-best 21-3 record this season in singles competition. 
 
Following Diallo in the rankings are No. 37 Lapadat and No. 60 Musitelli, who are separated by just one win. After taking down Oscar Pinto Sansano on Sunday, Dijon, France, native Musitelli improved to 19-7 on the season. Sophomore Lapadat boasts a 18-5 record as well, with two wins against ranked competition in the spring. 
 
Scouting the Tigers
 
The 39^th-ranked Auburn Tigers open their three-match road swing in Lexington against the Wildcats. 
 
In last week’s matches, Auburn went 1-1, falling 4-3 at Arkansas last Friday but bouncing back by returning home to sweep Alabama two days later. With the loss in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the Tigers moved to 1-2 in away matches on the season.
 
Auburn currently features three athletes ranked in singles competition in the ITA Singles poll, No. 83 Tyler Stice, No. 110 Tad Maclean and No. 124 Jan Galka.
 
Stice and Maclean both went 2-0 in singles this past weekend, with the junior Stice earning a ranked win against No. 95 Reco, improving to 11-6 on the season.
 
The Wildcats hold an impressive 16-2 series record against the Tigers since 2006. Kentucky is undefeated at home against Auburn since 2008. 
 
Scouting the Aggies
 
Texas A&M jumped up six spots in this week’s team ITA rankings, checking in at No. 22 after going 5-1 in six matches last week, all coming at home in doubleheaders. The Aggies picked up wins against UT Arlington, No. 41 Vanderbilt, Lamar, No. 32 Mississippi State and Abilene Christian, with their lone loss against No. 15 Texas by a 4-3 final score. 
 
TAMU played in another doubleheader at home on Tuesday, sweeping Prarie View A&M 7-0 in the afternoon and losing to No. 2 Ohio State by a 5-2 score in its evening tilt.
 
The Aggies hold both one player in singles and one doubles tandem ranked in the ITA poll, No. 98 Raphael Perot and No. 46 Austin Abbrat and Noah Schachter, respectively. 
 
Since joining the SEC in 2013, Kentucky has gone 2-8 against Texas A&M, with their last win coming at home in 2016. 
 
Next on the schedule
 
After two matches at home, Kentucky will again hit the road next weekend for two more SEC matches. 
 
The Wildcats first head to Nashville, Tennessee, to take on the No. 29 Vanderbilt Commodores on Friday, March 26 at 6 p.m. UK will then turn around and travel to Oxford, Mississippi, for a Sunday match at 2 p.m. against No. 31 Ole Miss. 
 
Admission to all home matches for Kentucky Tennis is free of charge to the public. For any indoor match held on UK’s campus, masks for all attendees are required in conjunction with the University of Kentucky’s indoor mask mandate currently in place. Doors to the Boone Tennis Complex will open one hour prior to the start of each match.
 
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow @UKMensTennis on Twitter and Facebook, @kentuckymenstennis on Instagram, and on the web at UKAthletics.com.